Housekeeper of the Year Award is open to all Housekeepers who exemplify first-class cleanliness and hygiene in bedroom preparation, in either an  independent hotel or group hotel. They will manage a housekeeping team, and must be committed to the efficient running of the housekeeping department. For more details and the inforamtion needed to submit your entry visit www.hotelcateys.com

ENTRY DEADLINE is 9 JULY, 2012

The Awards Night takes place on 16 November, 2012 at The Lancaster, London; tickets can be obtained throught the Hotel Cateys website.

There’s plenty to learn from housekeeping in terms of innovation and excellence, says Pride of Britain chief executive Peter Hancock.

It’s funny how we so often overlook the most important bits in a successful business. In appreciating a bottle of superior Bordeaux we forget the chaps who knock barrels together and those who endure the noise of the bottling factory, without whom there would be no wine at all.

To some extent, hotelkeeping falls into the same trap. Because daily repetition of the same task is a dull topic for conversation, we seldom dwell on the amazing achievement of our housekeeping teams who ensure that most fundamental ingredient of a happy stay, a clean and pleasant room. As most readers know only too well, this is labour-intensive work. It is unglamorous and requires a perfectionist’s eye combined with ruthless efficiency if it is to be done well. And just like restaurant service, you only really notice it when it’s done badly.

I was therefore intrigues to learn from Anne Britton, who chairs the UK Housekeeping Association, that her organisation held a very successful “Share Knowledge Day” at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in February. It appears that these stalwarts of the industry are taking matters into their own hands in a very positive way.

Since the demise of the Forte empire there has been a sharp decline in the provision of formal training for housekeeping staff, placing far more responsibility on the shoulders of one or two people at each hotel. By working together, housekeepers from competing hotels are actively promoting shared learning and aim to raise the profile of the profession by mounting a regional “Housekeeping Olympics” challenge this year.

Of course, there’s more to the role than the obvious practical tasks. Today’s housekeepers need to understand things like Microsoft Excel and must work to budgets that are often set by colleagues with no hands-on experience. In many cases they must work with transient agency staff who are unfamiliar with the property and who may have little or no training themselves. Add to that the habits of less considerate guests, whose rooms take much longer to service, and you begin to wonder how anyone puts up with the job.

Despite all this, the hotel trade is fortunate enough to employ thousands of brilliant housekeepers and relies on them totally. Their ability to organise, to find cost savings, to motivate junior members of the team in stressful conditions and to share their knowledge with colleagues elsewhere is much to be applauded. Where would we be without them?

Read Lynn Webster’s report in the January issue of the IEHA magazine – ‘Bringing My Convention LENS into Focus’. More photographs can be found on the Gallery page

There is an opportunity to Sponsor this event, as well as donating raffle or tombola prizes. Please contact Jean Roberts – 07894339697 email: jeanroberts29@hotmail.co.uk or Kerry Adams – 01132411045/1046 email: klsawomen@yahoo.co.uk

To reserve ACCOMMODATION  at DeVere Oulton Hall please quote U.H.K.A.220612; telephone 01132014450 – Double BB £100 per room; Single BB £89. There is a £50 non-refundable deposit. These rates are for  Friday night, per night; if you want to stay Thursday or Saturday night the rates will be higher. Please check with the hotel for availability and rates.

There is also ACCOMMODATION availbale at Holiday Inn Express, accross the road from DeVere Oulton Hall; they have agreed to offer a special rate of £49BB per room for Thursday 21st, Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd. Be sure to mention Jo Wilby’s name when making the booking – 0113 2880574; 2 Aberford Road, Oulton, Leeds, LS26 8EJ; www.hiexpressleedseast.co.uk

At 10.15 we went into the conference room where Sally Prescott from ZFL reminded us that “Housekeeping is the backbone of the hotel” Sally introduced the first speaker:

David Nicholson is the Regional Director of Finance Europe at Jumeira. He explained why it is important that we all understand budgeting and that we are all responsible for budgets to work. This includes not only the housekeeping department but the finance team and that we all must work together to achieve maximum results. He demonstrated examples of Excel spreadsheets and we were shown the differences between operating costs being either fixed or variable. Variable costs are cleaning materials etc and Fixed cost is payroll etc.

This was obviously a brief look into budgeting but it was very interesting and just reminds us of how important “Teamwork” is.

Sally then introduced the second speaker:

Jodi Goldman was a tall well dressed very pleasant lady who told us that first impressions are all about perception and that it takes just 30 seconds for us to decide 11 things about a person we have just met.
We don’t have a second chance to make a first impression!                                                                                                                       What she was saying is how important it is that we dress for the job we want and not the job we do. Your team look up to you they see you smart they feel they need to be smart and will be smart. Walk straight and upright, don’t slouch, shoulders back and most important look confident.                                                                                                                                  Always wear makeup, accessorise your clothes by adding the necklace or the scarf, wear clothes that fit, keep up to date with trends, wear the correct clothes for the time of year and dress your age. She demonstrated this by removing her lipstick, glasses, high shoes, red jacket and jewellery! WHAT a difference she changed from being smart, attractive and strong to being very plain and ordinary!                                                                                                                                                                We should all be consistent. Look smart, fresh and clean and ready for action at all times!

We then had a coffee break caught up and chatted.

On our return Sally introduced Lucy Spassavano, Executive Housekeeper The Savoy London:
Lucy talked to us about The Importance of Ambition.

Ambition the desire to succeed.                                                                                                                                                                    Ambition is having a goal and achieving it.                                                                                                                                                           Ambition is having confidence and using it.                                                                                                                                                 Ambition is having & using knowledge.                                                                                                                                                               Ambition is being a success.                                                                                                                                                                                 Ambitious people believe that failure is not an option!

We all need ambition to be able to accept changes in current trends. Ambition is knowing the importance of the service we provide.

Ambitious people are the drivers needed for the industry who seek excellence in what they do. They shine, they make an impact, they recognise talent, confidence and ambition in ambitious people. Lucy told us:

“NEVER TELL ME THE SKY IS THE LIMIT WHEN THERE ARE FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON”

What a brilliant quote!

Our next speaker was Lorraine Dale executive Housekeeper Atheneum Hotel, she spoke to us about inter hotel exposure, and about sharing knowledge.

Did you know there are approximately 20,000 housekeepers working in the hospitality industry? All of them face the same problems. For instance not being involved when budgets are set or not understanding the budget when set. Having refurbishment awareness, how to work with it, how to deal with it. How to set up purchasing procedures. Where do we get product knowledge from? What standards should we set, how do learn standards etc.                                                                    How do we learn all this?                                                                                                                                                                                                      Who can we turn to when we don’t know?                                                                                                                                                              We should turn to each other. One of us will know the answer. To help us we need to identify our strengths, make the investment and then reap the rewards.

The next step for “Share Knowledge” is to get registration forms created. Develop a network. Get linked together for mutual development with communication through Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Have someone responsible for running the Twitter account etc.

Have a 3 month evaluation to see how things are progressing.

More news on that will follow.

We then had a delightful lunch and returned to face the debate.

One side of the room general manager etc and the other side of the room housekeepers etc Sir David Michels told us that housekeeping is a True Profession, a True Vocation and one that does not change over time. It is an art not a science and one that can’t be replaced by machines!

Michael Gray opened the debate which was about the Olympics in London and the problems hotels will face, about hotels in other countries that have done the Olympics before and what problems had been solved. About Springboard and how to promote Housekeeping as a career. Would changing titles make it a more attractive career? Very importantly about promoting the UKHA!

Time for tea and to say goodbye to everyone.

A really good day, very worthwhile and I would recommend more people should go if it is repeated next year!

Anne Britton, National & Regional Chairperson, and Executive Housekeeper at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, had organised and planned the whole event, including all the speakers.

Lesley Covington, Acting Chair Midlands, Wales and South West region.

Alastair Stewart OBE our first speaker, surpassed our expectation and managed to have the room completely engrossed in his speech delivered with great wit. He touched on the world of politics, his experiences as a customer and stressed the importance of good service.

We then passed on the meaning of “Housekeeping – the motor of the Hotel”. Now that we have gained a full understanding of what our role is or should be, we have to engage ourselves in insuring the continuous growth of our role, on the development of each individual, on the support of General managers and on the training of future generations.

Our role is pivotal for the success of hotels and we need to ensure that we have the knowledge and expertise to keep this role as a real managerial role. This will ultimately ensure that this role attracts the right calibre of candidate. For this aim UKHA will continue with the free excel classes, the in-formative meetings and newsletters and will introduce the “inter hotels cross exposure”.

Anne Britton took the opportunity of this large gathering to then launch the Housekeeping European Website. Present in the room were other European presidents namely, Josselyn Henin, President of AGG Switzerland – Corinne Veyssiere President of AGGH Paris & Rhone Alpes – Mary Franery Vice-President of IASI Ireland – Mavis Hedrick representing the Australian Association and here to support us, James Blackburn who built the EHA website and Charles Waistell from Exclusive Linen who sponsor it. Most of our European guests explained their National Association and role, the importance of a different level of communication and effort sharing. This link with our European national Associations is solely to create larger awareness and contacts.

This was a very compact day, as we had lots of information to share.

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Download Word document here.

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